Ex-substitute teacher jailed for inappropriately touching student

December 18, 2007|By Art Barnum, Tribune staff reporter

After admitting that he inappropriately rubbed a young student's back, a former DuPage County substitute elementary teacher was taken to County Jail, where he will remain until the day after Christmas.

Brett Zagorac, 24, of Munster, Ind., was also sentenced by Judge Cary Pierce to 2 years of probation and ordered to have no contact with his 13 alleged DuPage-area victims. In addition, he must pay a $150 fine and get required mental treatment, including sex offender counseling. "You will be spending the holiday in jail and not with your family," Pierce said.

Zagorac pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor battery of a Naperville child in October. Prosecutors dropped similar charges involving 12 other pupils in 1st through 5th grades in Naperville, Downers Grove and Hinsdale.

Assistant State's Atty. Jeffrey Muntz said Zagorac "showed early signs of being a predator, and he was grooming these children. His dream of becoming a teacher had a motive -- to be inappropriately around kids."

The charges had alleged that Zagorac inappropriately rubbed the children under and over their shirts while in school.

Defense attorney Philip Nathe said Zagorac had never been convicted of a crime and characterized the incident as "misimpressions."

Muntz said Illinois and Indiana authorities would be notified of the conviction.